Means for suspending hammocks



No. 614,234. Patented Nov. l5, |898..

` l. E. PALMER. MEANS FUR SUSPENDING HAMMOCKS.

(Application led Aug. 10, 1897.)

(No Model.)

zeffewf- Nonms PETERS co, novo-LIT UNITED y STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ISAAC E. PALMER, OF MIDDLETOWN, CONNECTICUT.

MEANS FOR SUSPENDING HAMMOCKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 614,234, dated November 15, 1898.

Application filed August 10, 1897. Serial No. 647,690. (N model.)

To all whom it may concern,.-

Beit known that I, IsAAc E. PALMEaof Middletown, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Means for Suspending Hammocks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in means for suspending hammocks, in which provision is made for permitting the hammock a bodily longitudinal as well as-lateral swing while it is held in such adjustment as may be desired either for reading or sleeping.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents the hammock and its suspending devices in side elevation, and Fig. 2 represents the same in end elevation.

The hammock (denoted by A) may be of any well-known or approved form and is provided With hooks or eyes au', at its head and foot for the purpose of attaching it to the suspending device.

The suspending device proper consists of a bar or pole, to which the opposite ends of the hammock may be attached, and hangers for suspending the pole in both a longitudinal and lateral swinging adjustment. The bar or pole to which the hammock may be attached is denoted by B and is conveniently provided with a plurality of hooks b, spaced from one another and located in groups at or near the opposite ends of the bar B, so that either the head or the foot, or both,may be shifted toward and away from the middle of the bar B at pleasure to so adj ust the hammock as to give the body of the occupant a more or less up right position, as may be desired'.

The hangers which suspend the bar B are denoted by C C', two such hangers being in the present instance employed. The hangers C C may be formed either of iiexible or rigid material, as may be desired, their opposite ends being connected, respectively, with the bar B and with a suitable fixed support D above the bar to permit the hangers to swing either laterally or longitudinally with respect to the parts to which they are connected. The connections of the hangers with the bar and the fixed supports may be made either by a strong hook and eye or any other wellknown or approved hinge connection which will admit of `the swinging movement of the bar. When so suspended, the occupant of the hammock can impart to the hammock a bodily swinging movement lengthwise of the hammock by a slight pressure of the feet, arms, or body, tending to straighten the hammock, the pressure required to impart this swinging movement being so slight as to require no considerable exertion. Alaterallyswaying movement can also be readily imparted to the hammock by a change in the position of the occupant orby means of a slight pull on a cord or push on a stationary part within reach of the occupant, and in addition to these movements the hammock-body can readily have imparted to it by the' slight movement of the body of the occupant a movement in an elliptical path through space, combining both the lateral and the longitudinal movements, and thus making the bar a universal swinging bar.

. For purposes of shipment and in order to keep the packages in which the hammocks are commonly shipped within convenient H limits as to size and for convenience in storage when the hammock and its means for suspension are not in use I find it desirable to form the bar B in sections capable of being engaged and disengaged at pleasure.

In the present instance I'have shown the bar formed in two sections b' b2, the sections being arranged to telescope the one within the other, so that in addition to the separable feature of the sections I may secure a longer and shorter bar at pleasure to give the hammock different hanging adjustments.

The combination with an extensible bar and means for securing a' hammock to the b ar in different positions along the length of the bar, of hangers for supporting the bar, the said hangers having a swinging connection with the bar and with their points of su pport, substantially as set forth.

IsAAc E. PALMER. 

